The Tale Never Ends Chapter 146 Chongxi and Shiyan

I gave a summary of what happened during the incident, coupled with a short introduction on Old Man Xie. Everyone was captivated to my tale; so intently they were listening to my story that they could not tear their eyes off me. Somehow I began to wonder if I could one day write a story myself.

Lu Shengnan reached for some vegetables. "Wow... We did not know..." She muttered and chewed on her food, "I had always thought that you were merely a brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth. To think that you are a master of hidden talents! But you said you used a magical gourd to absorb the Yin energy from everyone and this helped save everyone. Did you have this gourd with you now? Come on, let me have a look!" Another girl was tugging at her sleeve, motioning her for silence so that I could continue.

The boyish Lu Shengnan scowled at the girl. "What?!" She barked indignantly. The girl was also from my class, although she was very much more feminine and graceful that Lu Shengnan. "You shouldn't ask, Shengnan!" The girl glared at Lu Shengnan, "I've heard before that we shouldn't ask people like Shiyan about their magic and instruments! There must be a reason why Shiyan had never mentioned his abilities before in the four years we've studied together!" Lu Shengnan expression turned into one of surprise. I chuckled. "Nevermind, that's hardly a secret. I was forbidden by my father to talk about it when I was young because I was hardly skilled enough to use it then. But now that I have my own investigative center, it's all right!"

The entire table fell silent. "Huh? Center? I thought you..." Lu Shengnan was the only one still capable of stringing words into a comprehensible sentence. No one expected that I was now a medium skilled in magic myself; everyone was under the impression that I had become a zither music instructor. I smiled wryly at their expressions. "There's nothing to be surprised of. I have been in this line of business at a very young age. It's just that none of you know." I began telling them a little of my Center and the peculiar stories I've encountered, including our triumph over the Creed of Eight Trigrams and the latest incident involving the Order of Pain, including Zheng Shuang and his position as the chief of the police task force now assigned to hunting the remnants of the Order.

After some time, I peered at my watch. I placed down my glass and said to the girls. "I'd take my leave for a moment to see to my friend next door. I'll be right back. I rose up and slipped through the door, just in time to see Lin Feng chomping down on a tentacle of an octopus. I pointed to Edelweiss and said to Zheng Shuang, "My fiancée here was instrumental in the demolition of the Creed! You were not informed of this because her background might be a tad sensitive for others."

Zheng Shuang sprang up, his eyes wide opened with shock while training upon Edelweiss before turning to me. "That is why a petty thief was no match for her! If only he knew who she was... He would never dare lay a hand on Sister here! Ah, so love blossoms between you both during the heat of battle! Hahahaha! That must be it!" He lifted his glass to Edelweiss who downed her entire glass without a doubt and Zheng Shuang, with apparent uncertainty, had to follow suit.

"Well, it's hardly the simple matter of love blossoming like high school children! If it were not for her, Shiyan and I would never be able to come back safely!" Chongxi added, speaking through a filled mouth with an octopus tentacle wriggling out of his mouth before he chomped it down. Chongxi's dreary and dismal expression came back to mind. It was one of death and hopelessness; an expression that suggested he might have chosen to commit suicide if I was indeed dead that day. A smile broke unconsciously upon my face as I was touched by the brotherly love we shared. In the ticklish peal of silence that sudden hung between us, Zheng Shuang was still on his feet, staring blankly at us. Not knowing what really happened that day, he could not understand what Chongxi said. But he offered no more toasts; He wondered if he would be the first to collapse if this became a drinking match between him and Edelweiss!

I stood up. The groaning of my chair against the floor cured the silence as I rose. Then I took out a pack of cigarettes and offered it to everyone. Zheng Shuang's eyes went wide as eggs again when he saw Edelweiss sipping casually at her cigarette! He swallowed hard! "If only you realize that she was formerly a horse bandit, that you'd be even more surprised!" I drew a heavy breath and changed the subject, telling Zheng Shuang about our bout against the weasels. At the end of my tale, I said to him, "They'll be back. I'm sure of it! But this time, I might need your help." "Do you know about the true identity of the person who is helping them?" "Not yet." The two-syllable phrase sprouted almost in unison from the rest of us. "We can arrest him for now under the charges of fraud," Zheng Shuang offered. "No," I said, "That's not what I mean. The fool might look to gangsters or hoodlums for help. There might be injuries if any altercation ensues. But it would do little to send a warning to our enemy if we retaliate too lightly; too strongly, and your guys would be in a difficult position. That is why we might need the police to intervene on our behalf completely!" "No problem!" Zheng Shuang said at once, his chest puffing with pride, "The police force does not look kindly upon folks seeking to incite anarchy and violence and disrupt public order. Rest assured, if he dares to enlist the help of crooks and mobsters, the police force will not sit still! Just give us the say-so, and we will act!"

I nodded. Zheng Shuang has always been good on his word and we could always depend on him to send in cavalry once we had given him the word. I filled my glass and raised it, clinking our glasses together and sharing a toast with him.

But after a few glasses of liquor and beer, my head began to feel woozy. Edelweiss' ability to drink was a marvel upon its own, which I can only envy. There was no way I could drink like her and sometimes I wondered if this was a Heaven-bestowed gift for her.

Seeing the affection Edelweiss and I shared, Zheng Shuang asked, "Chongxi, you said moments ago that you and Shiyan would never have returned, if not for Sister's help? What happened in Mongolia?" Chongxi held Zheng Shuang in a long gaze before he lighted himself another cigarette. He drew a hard and long breath through it and exhaled deeply, the fumes pouring from his mouth. "It's all my fault," he said at last and he began retelling what happened that day, although his version of the story espoused much of his guilt and shame that I could not help feeling my eyes getting wet just by listening to him.

Beads of perspiration formed on Zheng Shuang's forehead as he listened to Chongxi's gut-wrenching tale despite the coolness in the air-conditioned room. His eyes were growing moist as well and Chongxi was on the verge of shedding tears himself. I stopped them, my hands gently clapping on their shoulders. "All right now! Look at you both! What matters is, everyone is fine at the end of the day! Look at me and your sister here!" The liquor must have opened a dam full of emotions in Chongxi; a hand of his raised to pat on my hand which was still on his shoulder. He looked at me with deeply-redden eyes. "I'm a stocky and stunted boy when we were still kids in school. It was always Shiyan who stood by me and helped me. I remember there was once when I got into a fight with an upperclassman. I punched the boy in his face and bludgeoned his nose. The boy went home and complained to his parents and they came with him to the school, seeking retribution. It was Shiyan who stood up at once and took the blame for me... Then there's another time..." I stroked his shoulder and squeezed it to stop him and his voice faltered. For all these years, I had never expected him to remember so much of our past.

"You know? Zheng Shuang. When Shiyan fell off the cliff, all of these memories came back to me, as vivid as yesterday. Twenty years have passed between us and there has never been a day that Shiyan would hesitate standing out for me. Even this time..." He could say no more, reaching for his glass and poured everything down his throat in one go.

Realizing things were getting too emotional, I took my leave and quickly slipped to the opposite room.

The girls were deep in conversation about the strange sickness when I got in. One of them was saying, "Hey, do you guys know what medicine it was that the old physician gave us that day? I found out! Can you guess what is it?" Everyone around the table looked at her, bewildered and daze. I walked through the doors just in time and muttered bluntly, "Beefsteak plants."

"Yes, correct!" The girl declared proudly as if I had won a prize. "What are beefsteak plants?" Another asked. I took out my handphone and looked for an article about beefsteak plants on Baidu and found a picture. Then I showed it to them, "It's quite common actually in farm areas..." I sat down and began a lecture on what Old Man Xie has said about how they were cured, leaving out the more-shuddering details which might unsettle the girls. In contrast to Chinese traditional medicine, Old Man Xie's healing magic was the ancient shamanistic healing methods of Zhuyou. Some of the common and uninitiated would also call him "witch-doctor" or "voodoo healer".

But the girls understood little about medicine. By the time I finished the lecture, they were all quiet, confused and speechless while trying to digest of what I said. I would not blame them; even experienced doctors that day were left silent after Old Man Xie's explanation during the meal.

But I did not bother to elaborate any further. Another girl asked again, "Shiyan, Shiyan. You said that the old physician is strange. How strange is he?" I chuckled. "His name is Xie, Xie Bingyi in full. He's a renowned shaman healer in this vicinity and before this incident, he had once done any house call visits. This was why I needed to lure him to the hospital with a lie! But he is a very potent healer with extraordinary powers. During the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake, he and another two powerful colleagues of his were known in our line of business as the Triune of Wu Zhong!"

I had barely finished when Lu Shengnan emitted an inquiring "Ah?". "Wait a minute," she said, "I have heard of the Triune of Wu Zhong! But it was a name coined centuries ago! It was my grandmother who told me this story. She said that the original Triune of Wu Zhong were three immortals!"

Chapter end